Signet (Paperback), ISBN 0451200551
After being fired for insubordination, school psychologist Skye Denison returns to Scumble River, Ill., after a ten-year absence. Her godfather, the president of the school board, used his influence and hired her for the local schools. Of course no one allows her to forget the things she said about the town and townspeople in her high school graduation valedictorian address. The schools need her but her welcome lacks cooperation and warmth. She expected the humiliation, but she didn't expect murder. 

Skye certainly didn't expect her brother to be arrested for the murder or that, with her mother's help, she would be called upon to find the real villain -- and place her own life in jeopardy in the process. 

Arriving in town just in time for the annual Scumble River Chokeberry Festival, Skye, at her godfather's behest, enters the trailer of the guest of honor, supposedly an elderly TV personality called Mrs. Gumtree. Skye finds a bloody corpse stabbed in the throat with a pair of styling scissors. The scissors belong to Skye's brother Vincent, the only hairdresser in town. To Skye, Vincent confesses to a long-past affair with the dead woman. He also confesses to paying blackmail -- or child support for the child he fathered while still in high school. 

An interesting book, Murder of a Small-Town Honey depicts small town Scumble River in an intriguing manner. Skye's relatives boast long memories and a severe lack of manners. The family relationships, the town's violent growing pains and the diverse characters combine to provide a read that calls for more. I hope we will see more of Skye and Scumble River in future books -- I liked her and would enjoy building on our initial meeting. 

Patricia White

Patricia White is the Sapphire Award-winning author of A Wizard Scorned. Her current book, the contemporary PS, I've Taken a Lover, is available from Lionhearted Books . The Wandering Troll, an electronic magazine, began serializing her novel Prophecy Be Damned in April 2000.

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